“He is small, he is nice, he stopped Léo Messi”: by dint of self-sacrifice, N’Golo Kanté has risen to the highest levels of football and will try this weekend to win one of the rare titles which he lacks, the Champions League.
It is in the district of Geraniums, a small and rather peaceful city of Rueil-Malmaison, a few meters from Mont Valérien in the Hauts-de-Seine, that the defensive midfielder of Chelsea grew up, in a large family.
“Every time he comes back to Paris, he comes to see us and greet us. But he doesn’t just blow by, if we cook, he stays to eat, he agrees to take pictures with everyone, to play with young people … “, says Karim El-Moudkhil, his former educator in Rueil.
A “living example”
In the Geraniums youth center, everything is like the local hero: photos of him as a teenager with the team from his neighborhood adorn the walls, where the centerpiece, a giant portrait of the international tricolor.
Karim El-Moudkhil is full of anecdotes and recent videos of Kanté, already crowned with his status as English champion or world champion, playing tennis balls with the children of the neighborhood, for whom he is a “living example “.
“In the summer, here everyone has the shirts of Caen, Leicester, Chelsea, the France team”, the teams through which Kanté has passed.
“I’ve never seen him get mad since I’ve known him”
Loved and respected by all – teammates, fans and opponents – for his good nature and his modesty, the French midfielder has forged a reputation as a generous and discreet player, whose footballing qualities are in perfect harmony with his personality outside. land.
“He does not take the big head, he does not change”, abounds Karim El-Moudkhil. “And his brothers are the same, I would like to have the recipe to give it to everyone,” he smiles.
Bloodstroke in a game once? Anger, a negative emotion? “I’m looking for an anecdote or something, but frankly I have no recollection … I have never seen him get angry since I have known him”, answers the mediator in a tone almost sorry for the journalists in search roughness at N’Golo Kanté.
“And yet, if there was one who could have gotten upset, it was him, he was taking blows to Suresnes …”, he adds.
“N’Golo, he does not show himself, so upon detection, he was not visible”
It is indeed in the small club of this neighboring town to the west of Paris that Kanté, 30 years old today, evolved throughout his youth, no professional training center wishing to trust him despite his obvious talent, especially in because of its small size. And perhaps also his personality, sometimes too withdrawn.
“N’Golo, he does not show himself, so upon detection, he was not visible,” Pierre Ville, one of the club’s leaders, explained to AFP in 2018.
It was at 19, when he signed for Boulogne-sur-Mer, that his career took off. DH, CFA2 … Kanté quickly climbs the ranks, until integrating the first team, in National (third division).
This will follow a stint in Caen (2013-2015) before the flight to England and glory in Leicester, where he won the title in 2016, then Chelsea.
“He absorbed all the advice given by the educators”
“As soon as he signed for Boulogne-sur-Mer, I knew his career was launched”, promises Karim El-Moudkhil, “he just had to join a pro structure”. Also in the North, Kanté left only good memories.
“What was striking was his desire to progress: it was a sponge, he absorbed all the advice given by the educators”, remembers Christophe Raymond, former coach of the reserve team of Boulogne-sur-Mer, who had under his orders from 2010 to 2012 the one who would become double man of the match in the semi-finals of the Champions League, against Real Madrid.
“We felt that he had potential but it would be a lie to say that we imagined him to reach this level”, he admits, welcoming “the honor and the happiness” that it was for him to suck. such a player.
In Rueil, his former educator shares the same observation: “He has progressed enormously. In recent years he has taken a lot more risks, he is looking more forward, he is one of the best players in the world”.
Enough to make it, according to him, one of the big favorites at the Ballon d’Or. “If he wins the Euro and the Champions League, it can do it!”, He assures us.
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